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Now we come to the fun part of the inning: how many runs does the home team score? The model projects that the 2013 Nationals will score 693 runs.

Assuming that an everyday position player will get about 600 plate appearances, and assuming that the plate appearances of the two catchers, Suzuki and Ramos, are divided evenly, we end up with a table that looks something like this:

Player Name

4-year total PA

4-year total wRC

4-yr moving avg wRC/PA

Projected PA

Projected wRC

Team Total wRC

Jayson Werth

2803

425

0.151623260792009

600

90.97

Ryan Zimmerman

2844

426

0.149789029535865

600

89.87

Tyler Moore

171

26

0.152046783625731

150

22.81

Bryce Harper

597

86

0.144053601340034

600

86.43

Adam LaRoche

2622

361

0.13768115942029

600

82.61

Denard Span

2671

334

0.125046798951703

600

75.03

Wilson Ramos

613

76

0.123980424143556

300

37.19

Ian Desmond

1849

214

0.115738236884803

600

69.44

Danny Espinosa

1428

164

0.11484593837535

600

68.91

Roger Bernadina

1150

121

0.105217391304348

150

15.78

Chad Tracy

845

85

0.100591715976331

100

10.06

Kurt Suzuki

2703

274

0.101368849426563

300

30.41

Steve Lombardozzi

448

42

0.09375

150

14.06

Stephen Strasburg

83

3

0.036144578313253

150

5.42

Drew Storen

2

0

0

0

0.00

Dan Haren

240

19

0.079166666666667

150

11.88

Craig Stammen

90

3

0.033333333333333

30

1.00

Jordan Zimmermann

166

4

0.024096385542169

150

3.61

Zach Duke

226

1

0.004424778761062

30

0.13

Tyler Clippard

14

0

0

0

0.00

Gio Gonzalez

84

-5

-0.05952380952381

150

-8.93

Ross Detwiler

97

-9

-0.092783505154639

150

-13.92

Ryan Mattheus

1

0

0

0

0.00

Rafael Soriano

0

0

0

0

0.00

Bill Bray

0

0

0

0

0.00

692.7806858275

As excited as we’ll all be to follow Bryce Harper in his quest to beat Mike Trout’s insane age-20 season, it’s instructive to look at this table. Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman are projected to get 91 and 90 wRC respectively. Harper is expected to do great things–86 wRC–but it’s worth noting just how much a healthy Werth and Zimmerman mean to the Nationals line-up.

Notice also that the line-up is remarkably deep. Let’s look at it from the point of view of a possible batting order:

Denard Span, wRC 75.03

Jayson Werth, wRC 90.97

Bryce Harper, wRC 86.43

Adam LaRoche, wRC 82.61

Ryan Zimmerman, wRC 89.87

Ian Desmond, wRC 69.44

Danny Espinosa, wRC 68.91

Wilson Ramos, wRC 37.19; plus Kurt Suzuki, wRC 30.41

Those first five batters, however you order them, are pretty impressive. That should make for a much deeper line-up than we’re used to seeing here in DC.

So, what does this all mean? Tune in next time as we discuss how this all fits together in Part 4.